I'm reading NIH Director Francis Collins' new book The Language of Life. As the head of the Human Genome Project a few years ago, he has a unique and fascinating perspective on how growing information on the human genome will translate into actionable knowledge. Early in the book, he challenges the reader to join the personalized medicine revolution now by taking advantage of the U.S. Surgeon Generals's "Family Health History" initiative and the tool "My Family Health Portrait."

The idea is that we should talk with our parents, siblings, aunts and uncles to gather and compile as much information as possible about our family's various health issues. The more accurate and complete this information is, the more powerful the information we get when our own genome is profiled. By powerful, I mean to say that if we capture data on our family's health, that information coupled with our own profile can be analyzed for example to help raise awareness about predisposition to disease and responsiveness to drugs.

The relationships we are aware of now are somewhat limited, but our knowledge is growing rapidly. I wish I had thought to talk with my parents before they both passed away to learn more about family ailments. Now much of that information is gone forever.

If pharmacists are to take the lead in helping patients understand this complex information in the coming years, much as we've done with drug interactions, we've got to begin getting more familiar and comfortable with the science ourselves. Thus my challenge -- Let's be our own "first patients" and do the work we will be asking our patients to do.

In Dr. Collins' book, he compares three genetic testing companies and makes some fascinating observations. I'll try to share more as I read, but I wanted to get the challenge out there. The knowledge is not to be feared, it's to be used to help us make decisions about how we live our lives. For example, if we're prone to diabetes, maybe we'll focus more on weight control and minimization of other risk factors. If glaucoma is in our history, and especially if our "code" suggests we've got a genetic pre-disposition, then of course we'll see an eye specialist on a regular basis to be sure we catch it early if necessary.

These are exciting times in the world of personalized medicine. Let' step up as a profession and do our part to optimize the opportunities.